


Midnight.

by LadyByron



Category: Lupin III
Genre: Cats, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:53:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23280520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyByron/pseuds/LadyByron
Summary: Jigen finds a cat. Or it rather finds Jigen.
Relationships: Ishikawa Goemon XIII/Jigen Daisuke
Comments: 10
Kudos: 53





	Midnight.

**Author's Note:**

> This is for senseissha on Twitter! She had the idea and I decided to try it out!~
> 
> Second fic attempting anything with them so don't be hard xD

The night was cold, but he wasn't allowed to smoke inside the apartment. Goemon usually didn't precisely enjoy his habit, but tolerated it. This time, however, he got a sore throat, and it was sensitive. The slight hint of smoke made him cough violently and despite his tough character, Jigen worried about the samurai way too much.

He went out to the balcony, lit the cigarette and watched the stars. There, up, was the moon, and he found himself mesmerized, watching it through the phantasmagorical clouds of smoke. He was somehow lost in his thoughts, thinking about how radiant Goemon's skin usually looked under the cold light of the moon. Pah. Such a soft, mawkish thing to think of. He growled at himself, but kept looking up. The streets down below were quite calm despite that it was not yet midnight and usually people were still marching down.

So distracted he was, that he didn't truly notice the second presence in the balcony, haunting him from the shadows. It slowly and gracefully approached, and taking advantage of the unawareness of its prey, it... Headbutted Jigen's leg.

Jigen startled, and jumped a bit, his hand immediately searching for his gun but it was irresponsibly placed on the coffee table, inside. He looked down, and found two green lights, two eyes, staring up at him. "'S just a damn cat", he thought, even though in the blue moonlight he could barely see a thing. His first thought was to frighten it away, yet he went inside and turned on the lights to see better.

It was a nothingness, a shadow of a cat. A black, scrawny thing, the hair was short but stood up in some places. It was a bit dirty and the eyes, in the end, were gold, not green. A very awful looking creature, according to him. But, give it a hat and a gun, and it would look just like himself, he thought and amused himself.

"... Watcha doin' here, searching for some food?", he mumbled to the little beast. He was surprised to receive a little response.

"Mao", the cat said in its language and rubbed itself against Jigen's leg again. 

" I suppose that means yes?", he asked. And then he realized he was talking to a cat. "Crap...". The cat looked up at him, as if it were disapproving his language.

Avoiding saying unnecessary things to it, and well conscious that it was a stupid thing to do because once he did it the damn cat would return for more, he went back inside, to the kitchen, and got some pieces of salmon and a little bowl with milk for the beastie. 

Goddamn he regretted it when he went out and, just at the smell of the food, the little creature began meowing like a frigging demon and twirling around his ankles like a snake. He almost fell but managed to just place the food down for the cat to have a feast and so it did. Man, it ATE. Poor guy, must have been starving for who knows how long.

He consumed a cigarette alone there somewhere, as he just carefully watched the cat eating, feeling something quite close to pity. Once it ate even the last little piece of fish and drank the last drop of milk, it turned to Jigen again. Now, it was still a skeleton of a cat but with a swollen, rounded belly which made Jigen snort. The cat looked satisfied and happy, and went closer to Jigen to thank him with more headbutts and even purring. 

"Oh, no, no!", he whined but, even despite himself, god, cats were so damn manipulative!, he petted it a bit. Its hair was kinda greasy. "Tssk! I should call you Daisuke Junior", he again spoke to it. 

"Prrt!", an answer from the feline. 

"Oh really...". He checked his wristwatch. It was exactly midnight. 

He looked at the black cat again. Looking closely, he could tell it was old, because it had some random white hair, here and there. Like sparks.

Like stars in the sky.

"Midnight...", he mumbled.

"Mao!", another response.

He smiled. He actually smiled at the cat. He got on his feet and headed back inside but the cat followed him.

"Hu-huh, no way you, get off. Shoo", he growled and gestured at the cat to well, shoo.

"Prrrt".

"No excuses", he said and went in. He closed the curtains, turned off the lights and went to the bedroom. 

Goemon was deeply asleep. Ha, as much as he would have liked to, he didn't share a bed with him. Just the room. He undressed and put on his sleeping clothes, his sleeping hat and slid under the warm blankets.

"Did you brush your teeth", a deep voice on the other bed asked.

"Yeah", he lied.

"... Ahem!", he coughed a bit.

"Goodnight, Goemon".

"Goodnight, Jigen...".

But he didn't fall asleep immediately. He was thinking about the cat. Will it be cold? Hungry again? What if it was chased by a dog...?

Bah. Who cared. It was just a stray cat.

Therefore why did he feel so stupid when the first thing he did the next day was checking the balcony and see if there was a cat to feed? No cat. Even more stupid he felt when he sighed, disappointed.

However, that night, Goemon wasn't still perfectly healthy. For that reason only, he went out to smoke on the balcony again.

"Mao", he heard it in the dark and he wished he didn't hurry so much to turn on the lights.

"Hey...", he smiled at the cat and leaned down to pet it, "ya hungry again?"

"Mao!"

"Thought so".

This time it was some chicken and broccoli. He almost choked on his own saliva laughing at the cat eating broccoli. He couldn't even stand the smell of that shit, he didn't even know who bought it and why but there was the cat eating the green torture as if it were the finest dish ever.

It was midnight again. "You showed up at the same time. Where the heck do you come from?".

He looked down the stairs. Up. To the sides. Surely it came from downstairs but... It was a stray cat. No owner.

"Prrt?"

"No. I go inside but you gotta stay here", they argued when it was time to part. But strangely, it pained him. Poor bastard was so thin. And quite a thing to look at. Meaning, not entirely ugly, not entirely annoying.

He reproduced the same ritual of the previous night and all the previous too. When he got under the blankets, the man on the other bed spoke.

"Did you take out the trash?".

"Nh, yeah", this time he wasn't lying.

"Jigen, I heard you laughing. Have you lost your mind".

"Nah, I was huh, this woman was passing by down the streets and the wind blew her skirt up and she had the ugliest panties".

"Jigen...", the tone of reproach made the bearded man giggle.

" G'night, Goemon".

"Goodnight Jigen".

Well, the next three nights, even though at the second Goemon's throat was okay, Jigen went out to the balcony to smoke, and feed Midnight. Oh yes, he named it Midnight, since it always appeared at that time.

He was strangely devoted to feeding it, and he decided he didn't like how its hair was so dirty. One of these nights he'd give it a bath, damn.

It was amazing to see how in less than a week, it gained some weight.

"You really didn't eat a damn thing, did ya?".

"Prr, meow".

"That's tough, man".

The fourth night, something happened. Midnight didn't show up. He waited, and waited. It was almost 2 in the morning but he kept waiting on the balcony. Something, something in his chest made him feel wrong. It wasn't his cat. He... Didn't LIKE it. He just fed it but... It wasn't nice. 

"Jigen, what are you still doing out here", it was Goemon at his back. There, in the moonlight, he looked radiant. Jigen would have smiled if his heart wasn't so tormented.

"Nothin', just can't sleep".

"But you could have least stayed awake inside. You could get a cold", the samurai deliberately tried to sound uninterested.

"And what do you care".

"... I do care. Huh...", he cleared his throat, "Well, I will go to sleep. Goodnight".

"Goodnight".

The only good about that night was finding out Goemon worried about him. The rest was just sadness. Where could Midnight be...

He noticed how Goemon looked at him all day, trying to find answers for his weird behavior lately and his bad mood that day. But he asked no questions. 

Hours were endless. Time was slow as hell. Midnight -the hour- took ages to come.

But it finally did. And when it did, someone else came.

"Midnight! Where the heck did you go, you fucker!", he whispered angrily, lifting the cat up. Lifting the cat up! It started purring and giving him apologetic love. So much relief... 

"Who is Midnight?".

He startled, which also startled the cat, who jumped down from his arms.

"Goemon!".

"So this cat, I assume, is Midnight?", he asked, kneeling down to study the black creature.

"Yeah, huh..."

"Is this cat the reason why you came out at late hours? And your concern last night?", he reached out and petted Midnight, not with affection, more like testing it.

"Yeah, well, I kinda got used to it...", Jigen scratched the back of his neck.

"... It is a lovely specimen. We can keep it. Who would complain? It seems well behaved", now there was affection in his voice and gestures, because Midnight was offering him its belly.

"Seriously?", Jigen sounded so excited. Goemon looked up at him and smiled a bit.

"Seriously. It will keep you calmer to know it is safe", he nodded.

"Oh, jeez, thanks man...", the gunman sounded relieved, and caressed his chest, not just a bit emotional. He could have cried if his masculinity wasn't holding those tears back.

"Nothing to thank. This is also your house and you are allowed to do what you wish. I have nothing against cats...", he picked Midnight up in his arms and walked inside with it. Jigen followed quite amazed.

"Do you like it, Goemon?".

"Yes... It's a female", the samurai pointed out.

" WHAT?", for some reason Jigen sounded horrified.

"Yes. It should have testicles and she does not. It's not sterilized. It is a female. We should get her sterilized. It would help for her to settle down, and also it would avoid a pregnancy. She would also gain weight. And definitely won't go out anymore".

"... Since when do you know so much about cats?", Jigen couldn't help but smirk.

Goemon blushed a bit and shrugged.

"I always wanted a cat".

That night, Midnight slept on Jigen's bed. Goemon felt a bit jealous, so the next day they came to the agreement that joining the beds together would be a good idea, so she would be sleeping with both at once...

It was just a few long weeks later, one night, when they were watching TV, Midnight on Lupin's lap, who was asleep on the couch, that Goemon dared to say:

"I like sharing the bed with you".

Jigen's heart skipped a beat. But after a while, and after checking Lupin was deeply asleep, he wrapped an arm around Goemon's shoulders. Midnight woke up, and jumped from Lupin's lap (for some reason she was horrible with Lupin when he was awake, but when he was asleep he was her favourite cushion) to Goemon's lap. She kneaded his thigh for a while and then fell asleep there. 

Jigen looked at them both and felt something so, so deep and huge in his chest. Oof... "I'm getting soft", he thought, and placed a shy kiss on the cheek of a flustered Goemon, and scratched his daughter's forehead.

**Author's Note:**

> Also, thanks to my friend Alice for correcting it as usual and also for the divine story about her own cat Midnight! I didn't know about her! And I'm so happy this brought nice memories to you!


End file.
